A harmonious twist on an old favorite with bonus action songs.
Readers will need to tune their voices before meeting Troll, who guards the bridge leading to “the tastiest grass in the valley.”
When Vole arrives to cross, Troll sings a challenge in his clear, deep voice: “Troll-dee-roll, I’m a troll, / And my favorite food is vole. / With a knick-knack, paddywhack, / Better pay the toll, / or you’ll end up in my bowl!” But hungry Vole can’t pay, and the battle of wits begins. Luckily, Troll knows only one song, so Vole teaches him a new one. Three times, Troll gets so caught up in each new action song—children will recognize these storytime standards and join in—Vole teaches him that the anthropomorphic creature successfully sneaks over the bridge for “a feast of grassy greens.” But on Vole’s fourth visit, Troll snatches him by the tail. Knowing he is destined for Troll’s bowl, Vole begs for one last Troll song. In an unexpected twist, Vole joins “in with a sweet, high harmony,” and together they fill “the valley with music so enchanting that fish [spring] from the creek, flapping their fins with pleasure….Even the songbirds [hush] to listen.” Understandably, as part of their new friendship, Vole insists on rewriting Troll’s challenge song. Watercolor, colored pencil, and ink illustrations enhance the emotional subtext to this revised fairy tale.
A harmonious twist on an old favorite with bonus action songs. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-58089-885-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sure to have little ones giggling.
Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”
Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.
Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781250814388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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